Calgary Flames are having surprising success shorthanded
By Ant Barberio
For the third time this postseason, the Calgary Flames scored shorthanded. All three shorthanded goals were scored by Tobias Rieder.
This weekend’s major headlines from the NHL playoffs included Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask’s suddenly opting out. In the Edmonton hub, the Calgary Flames grabbed something headlines of their own. The Flames are scoring when they aren’t expected to.
Calgary has been a dangerous team while shorthanded. What makes that surprising is that the Flames weren’t even in the top half of teams scoring shorthanded during the 2019-2020 regular season. With his shorthanded goal yesterday, Tobias Rieder tied the NHL record for most shorthanded goals in a playoff year with three.
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As noted by the broadcast team of Sunday’s game, Rieder also became the first player in NHL history to score his first three career playoff goals shorthanded.
Of course with this year’s playoffs being as weird and out of the ordinary as they are, any statistics might not be taken as historically significant as the other players that share that same record.
Rieder is tied with the likes of Bruins legend Derek Sanderson and Wayne Gretzky, among others.
Even with their scoring prowess, Calgary needs all the help it can get on the penalty kill. Sunday’s game saw the Flames take seven minor penalties. Dallas was able to score twice on the man advantage.
Rieder’s shorthanded goal helped cut down, but not entirely erase, the deficit Calgary caused themselves by being frequent visitors to the penalty box. Both teams ended up scoring twice on their own power plays in regulation, not including Dallas scoring their equalizer with an empty net.
Erik Gustafson had the most power-play time on ice for the Calgary Flames at three minutes and 44 seconds. 10 different skaters for the Dallas Stars spent more time on the PP. Eight Calgary Flames skaters spent more time on the ice shorthanded than that three minute 44 second benchmark.
Are the Flames scoring so well shorthanded because they spend so much time on the man advantage? Reider’s goal yesterday came off a beautifully created opportunity when Derek Ryan chased after the puck after a clearing attempt to pass the puck to Reider while John Klingberg ties Ryan up by the boards. Calgary is advantageous at seizing opportunities, whenever and wherever they may be.
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If Calgary took fewer penalties, perhaps they would score more at even strength. Perhaps they wouldn’t need to score the extra goals at all, although extra goals are always welcome especially during the playoffs. Calgary needs to play more disciplined hockey either way because taking seven penalties a game won’t always be a winning formula.